"I see..."

Last Friday, Jess and I went to the Chubu OB-GYN clinic (off base) for an elective ultrasound to try to determine the baby's sex. We went around this time last year with our friend Amber as well -- she wasn't as lucky as baby Declan wasn't cooperating. A couple weeks later at her regular appointment (which we were also at, her husband was deployed) he was cooperative and we say that he had boy parts.

I never got a 3D ultrasound with Evelyn for a couple reasons. One - Tricare doesn't cover them (to my knowledge) and I didn't want to pay $100+ out of pocket. Two - I thought they were creepy and all the babies look like aliens. I hope that doesn't offend anyone but that was how I felt.

At the clinic out of Gate 2, you pay 5000 yen (~$50 if it is 100 yen to $1) for your first visit. You can walk in, which is what we chose to do.

We got to see the baby moving and shaking, and then we even saw the baby open its little mouth. It seemed to have burped amniotic fluid or something - we have a profile shot with the baby's mouth closed, and then again with the mouth open and a little cloud leaving the baby's mouth. It was cute. (That's a total mom thing to say, isn't it?)

Before all that though, the Doc got a good look between the baby's legs. I would think that a 3D view would perhaps be more helpful at determining sex than a 2D view but what do I know. The Doctor moved the wand around a bit, and got a great look.

"I see no penis," he said. He then followed it up with a statement saying he was 65% sure it was a girl, but to come back in 3-4 weeks to be certain. It did look quite barren down there; Amber and Jess say that it is pretty obvious if they have a penis. He kept repeating, "I see no penis, I see no penis". We got a kick out of that later on.

So as of right now, to our knowledge, our second baby is another girl. I have a regular check-up appointment on Tuesday - maybe we'll get another peek at her, but otherwise we'll see her again in a few weeks at the anatomy scan.